Japanese Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is significantly lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 30,700 level and off the 33-year highs, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight and with traders booking profits after the recent surge.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 302.56 or 0.98 percent at 30,655.21, after hitting a low of 30,617.01 earlier. Japanese stocks ended notably lower on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing 1.5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is declining more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.3 percent, while Toyota is gaining more than 4 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is edging up 0.5 percent, while Advantest and Tokyo Electron are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.4 percent, Mizuho Financial is gaining almost 2 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding more than 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Sony is losing more than 1 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric and Panasonic is down almost 1 percent each. Canon is edging up 0.3 percent.

Among other major losers, Shiseido and Oriental Land are losing more than 4 percent each, while CyberAgent is down more than 3 percent. Isetan Mitsukoshi, M3, Terumo and J. Front Retailing are all declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Kansai Electric Power is gaining almost 5 percent, Hitachi Construction Machinery is adding more than 3 percent and T&D Holdings is up almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 138 yen-range on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks ended notably lower on Tuesday after staying weak right through the day's session due to sustained selling at several counters. A lack of significant progress in U.S. debt ceiling negotiations weighed on sentiment. Traders largely shrugged off data showing fairly sharp growth in the nation's private sector activity.

The major averages all ended notably lower. The Dow ended lower by 231.07 points or 0.69 percent at 33,055.51. The S&P 500 ended down 47.05 points or 1.12 percent at 4,145.58, while the Nasdaq settled at 12,560.25, down 160.53 points or 1.26 percent.

The major European markets also closed lower, weighed down by concerns about growth after data showed a contraction in eurozone manufacturing activity, and U.S. debt ceiling worries and signs of increasing Sino-U.S. tensions. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged down 0.1 percent, Germany's DAX dropped 0.44 percent and France's CAC fell 1.33 percent.